Tag Archives: long-form DRTV media billings

Much to the dismay of our error-prone printers, the July issue of Response has been available online for more than two weeks now, though I know it just started hitting many of your mailboxes last week. Let’s take a look at the issue, including the cover feature on the geniuses behind fitness behemoth Zumba, our annual look at the entertainment market and more.

When Alberto Perlman teamed with legendary trainer Beto Perez and fellow entrepreneur Alberto Aghion in 2001 to bring Perez’s workouts from their birthplaces of Colombia and South Florida to the world, there was no way they could have known that Zumba Fitness would become the world’s largest fitness brand. But, it has — with customers in 180 countries, more than 25 million DVDs sold and more than 200,000 fitness locations worldwide offering Zumba workouts. It’s also been a story I’ve been digging to tell in the pages of Response for some time now. Finally, thanks to Brian Comstock, the company’s DR marketing guru, and Aly Robins, its PR leader, we were finally able to track down the fast-moving Perlman for this exclusive feature. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: The Zumba Revolution

As the average consumer’s options for entertainment expand — all the way to watching (and perhaps buying from) an online video on the smartphone in the palm of your hand — the options that same expansion have given marketers have served only to add to the fragmentation of the consumer base? What to do? Well, no one has all the answers, but Pat Cauley put together a strong piece for us that touches on multi-screen engagement, content distribution and data management. If you didn’t click the link above, here’s another chance: Entertainment Epiphanies

Our DRMA Spotlight feature returned in July — after a brief hiatus — as payment processing leader Vantiv opted to tell its story to fellow DRMA members and Response readers. Elizabeth Rector, Vantiv’s senior vice president and general manager, spoke about the 40-year-old business, perhaps best known to our readers as the company that bought long-time direct response processing leader Litle & Co. about two years ago. For more on Vantiv and its focus on customer service and technological solutions, click here: The Vantiv Advantage

Hopes for a flying start in 2014 media billings results didn’t last long. Unfortunately, first-quarter 2014 direct response TV and radio media billings got off to another slow start — after a generally dismal 2013 — in the long-form DRTV market. First-quarter billings eerily mirrored results in 1Q 2013, as the long-form space lost $24.2 million (9.2 percent). This drop caused 1Q long-form billings to slip below the quarter-billion dollar mark for the first time in 10 years. Positives were limited — time slots purchased only fell by 1.1 percent, as the cable market rebounded from some of its 2013 issues — but we won’t know what direction the long-form space is truly headed until 2Q results come in. Fornow, to take a deeper look at 1Q 2014 long-form DRTV billings, click here: The Struggle Continues for Long-Form in 1Q 2014

The April issue of Response has been available online since shortly before Response Expo, which took place about three weeks ago. But, with the craziness surrounding the Expo and some immediate deadlines for the upcoming May issue following closely on its heels, there hasn’t been much time for me to share an inside look at the issue. However, with the May issue now out the door (and on its way to our readers soon!), I had a moment today to catch up and take a deeper look at April’s book, including the cover feature highlighting Murad, our roundtable with the 2014 DR Hall of Fame inductees, two DRMA Spotlight stories and a rather pointed Editor’s Note column.

In early 2007, I interviewed Dr. Howard Murad about his line of skin care products and how the brand had used direct response marketing to build its consumer base and recognition. Seven years later, with the brand still flourishing and a pair of its marketing executives set to speak at Response Expo, we decided it was time to see how Murad’s marketing has changed with the times. Unsurprisingly, Marina Randolph — executive vice president of direct for the Southern California-based company — and the rest of the Murad team have expanded the company’s marketing arsenal to work in today’s consumer-controlled landscape. Quite simply, it’s an omnichannel world and — as a marketer — Murad is representative not only of those in the beauty and personal care space, but all marketers who are combining direct, digital and data-driven efforts to keep pace. If you missed the link to the story above, here it is once again: Getting Better Every Day

Again tying in with Response Expo, we were able to catch up with the nine living members of the second class of the DR Hall of Fame. The group, which also included posthumous inductee Billy Mays, is truly a who’s-who of direct response history, and each of them was saluted wonderfully by more than 400 attendees at the induction ceremony in San Diego on May 1. Don’t miss these legends thoughts — if you didn’t click the link above, here’s another chance: The Pioneering Spirit!

The growing influence of retail sales — be it in store or online — is the subject of this month’s edition of the Response Advisors Forum. Not only do the members of our vaunted Advisory Board kick around the challenges and opportunities that keep growing in the omnichannel marketplace, but the online version of the story is a Web exclusive: the full, unabridged answers from each member of the Board. If you missed the link above, here it is once again: An Old Foe Becomes a Best Friend

The hits in this issue just keep coming as there are two DRMA Spotlight stories — a two-page feature on Maine-based Argo Marketing Group and a one-page Q&A with Phoenix-based Higher Power Marketing. The interview with Argo’s Jason Levesque actually took place in a cabana at the Loews South Beach Resort in Miami Beach in February. Argo’s growth during the past decade has been spectacular and Levesque has an understanding of where the market is headed. To read the story, click here: Growing Smiles on Customers’ Faces. To watch the video interview with Levesque, shot in Miami, click here: DRMA Spotlight Video — Argo Marketing Group. The genesis for the one-pager on Higher Power happened during a meeting for coffee in Scottsdale while the Response team was on a business trip in the Phoenix area. Peter Feinstein has a solid track record in the space and his thoughts about where his company and the business are going are intriguing. Take a look by clicking here: ‘Commerce With a Conscience’

Barry Jacobs: leader, mentor, friend.

As we closed in on the Expo, there was a big push for exposure in our monthly Field Reports news section. Along with some big industry news — Kevin Trudeau’s 10-year jail sentence; Twitter jumping into DR — three Q&As highlight the section. We were able to spend some time with Havas Edge‘s Jack Kirby about the consumer-centric marketing world (seeing a trend here, anyone?) and how marketers and agencies can best work together. We also had a chat with Top Dog Direct‘s Bill McAlister about the lifeblood of the business — product inventors. Finally, and most personally rewarding, I was able to sit down over a lunch with long-time media agency executive Barry Jacobs. Jacobs — a mentor and a friend — retired from full-time duty in the business (and from Mercury Media) following Response Expo. While he’s still taking on projects here and there, he’s doing so from the comforts of home after 55 years of helping shape the direct marketing world. Don’t miss these great Q&As and more — click here to take a look: Field Reports April

Mercifully, we’ve reached the last quarter of direct response TV and radio media billings results. Fourth-quarter long-form DRTV billings results mirrored the entire year for the 28:30 marketplace: 4Q results were off 5.3 percent, leaving the year down 5.7 percent. For the first time since 2004, long-form DRTV cumulative media billings failed to top $1 billion as more and more marketers seem to have raised spending in the lower-cost satellite space at the cost of the higher-priced cable market. For more on 4Q long-form DRTV billings from Response, click here: 4Q 2013 Long-Form DRTV Media Results Round Out Somber Year

Lastly, my Editor’s Note represents the difference between reporting and opinion journalism — a difference that the 24-hour news channels have sullied to the point of near invisibility. As noted above, we covered the facts of the sentencing of long-time DR industry burden Kevin Trudeau to 10 years in federal prison in the news section. But in this space (one designed specifically for opinion), I expressed the disdain of many in the business — based on many notes I received prior to this column’s publication and many more received after — for Trudeau’s continued negative influence on the good names of hundreds of marketers who have used direct response marketing in an ethical and successful way. Suffice it to say, I’m disappointed to see products using Trudeau the pitchman still on the air. And I’m not alone. To read my full take on the topic, here’s the link once again: Trudeau Story Points the Finger at ‘Self-Regulation’ … Again

After some holiday and printing related delays, the January issue of Response is finally available online! And, if you’ve received your print edition, you’ve likely noticed our brand new masthead logo atop the issue’s cover, as well as throughout its pages. Read on here for some back story on the cover feature highlighting Stanley Steemer (and president Justin M. Bates), as well as how Response’s new logo and look came into being:

Last summer, Publisher John Yarrington and I visited the Horizon Media offices in New York City to meet with Gene Turner — leader of the agency’s burgeoning direct division — and then-new PR leader Kaya Lobaczewski. It was, as usual, an interesting meeting and Lobaczewski understood the types of stories that our readers like: highlighting successful marketers and the role that direct, digital and data-driven marketing plays in their plans. During the following months, she zeroed in on Horizon client Stanley Steemer, the Ohio-based market leader in carpet and house cleaning services, as the target for a great DR case study. The story leads our January issue and features Justin M. Bates, the third member of his family to lead the company since its founding in 1947. Under his stewardship, Stanley Steemer faced a crisis brought on by the Great Recession. The solution: a multi-channel DR and digital campaign (shepherded by Horizon) that’s turned the company completely around. If you missed the link above, here it is once again: ‘Steeming’ the Competition

We’re happy to again feature the thoughts and opinions of our powerful and knowledgeable Response Advisory Board in 2014. In the first of four planned Advisors’ Forum features, the group was posed with a series of questions about how digital has changed the game for direct response — and vice versa. Technologies like search, E-mail, digital display, online video, mobile and social are not only changing marketers’ game plans on a daily basis, but they are also evolving just as quickly. What does our Advisory Board think about the challenges and opportunities? Find out here in the Web Exclusive version of this story, featuring more questions and answers than the abridged version that appeared in the print version: Let’s Get Digital

This month, the DRMA Spotlight is turned on Middleton, Mass., digital tech company Mojo Research & Development. Founded in 2011 by software entrepreneur Gregory Silvano, Mojo is looking to make life easier for marketers operating sales websites — on both the back and the front end. Want to make an immediate change to the offer the consumer sees on your site? Silvano says Mojo’s technology makes that change as easy (and quick) as can be from a dashboard that allows user control — rather than waiting for Web developers to make requested changes. That same dashboard serves as a measurement and tracking tool so that marketers can track the success (or struggles) of their campaigns. If you missed the link above to this month’s Spotlight, click here: Finding the Right Mojo

When working on the 3Q 2013 long-form DRTV media billings in late 2013, a major factor in the space’s overall spending decline in 2013 became crystal clear: long-form buyers have shifted more of their spend into lower-cost satellite buys and away from the impacted — and expensive — cable space. So, while overall spending was down — again — in the third quarter (this time by 5.2 percent), a rise in time slots purchased and a spike in the satellite outlet’s share of that market again point out that long-form buyers are working hard to find the best deals available in a tough market. For a full look at all the categorical and outlet results, here’s the link: Long-Form Media Billings Stumble Yet Again

Finally, my first Editor’s Note of 2014 introduces Response‘s new masthead logo and — perhaps more importantly — new tagline: Direct. Digital. Data-Driven. While this tagline should be no shock to those of you who read the magazine, it’s a powerful re-statement of the goals I’ve been talking about in this space for much of the past year. You can read more about that in the column itself. But how did we come up with it? Much of the credit for our new look goes to our long-time graphics director, Monica Kollmann, with whom I discussed our redesign concept in late summer 2013. She took many of the thoughts I share in this column and turned them into an unmistakable visual template. Though Monica shared 3-5 options with us for a new look, this was her first and favorite version — and it’s the perfect fit. We’re thrilled about this new look that complements our continued direction. For more about the “why” of our new look, here’s the link once again: A Fresh Start